Finance Ministers cited for violating PRMA

Both past and present Ministers of Finance have been cited for violating the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Amended) 893, 2015 for seven consecutive years without Parliament taking any action.

In particular, is Section 48(1) of the Act which requires the Finance Minister to submit to Parliament a reconcialation report on the management of petroleum revenues every year.

In the said report, the Minister of Finance is to indicate to Parliament the stage of execution of all oil funded project.

This was revealed by the Executive Director of ISODEC, Dr. Steve Manteaw, when he was presenting a paper on Enhancing Social and Environmental Performance on Oil and Gas at the Speakers Breakfast forum in Accra, Tuesday.

To Dr. Manteaw, Parliament’s oversight role in that regard has not been effective, stressing that it has serious repercussions on how Ghana’s oil revenues are being used.

“Since we started producing oil in this country, past and present finance ministers have not complied with that provision and giving us updates on the stage of completion regarding oil projects. A project conducted by PIAC revealed that a lot of the projects are non existent. Those that are in existence are deteriorating barely after a year of completion, raising serious concerns about quality and value for money.”

Issues of institutional inconsistencies with regards to the formulation of policies and legal framework to regulate activities in the oil and gas sector, he noted, must be addressed.